Woke up with a Nightmare Before Christmas earworm. Y'all are welcome. ;)

I'm off on an actual weekend!!!!! Even stranger, I'm off next weekend, too. I'm loving the M-F schedule, but I am not going to allow myself to get used to this. That way lies madness.

Still, I'm already feeling a little guilty about next Sunday. My inner good girl wonders if I shouldn't volunteer to work Fathers Day since I did Mothers Day, to let people who have reason to celebrate do so. But where MD was best for everyone because we have mothers in the FOH, I can't cover for the fathers at work (all BOH). And, frankly, working Mothers Day was a kind of penance for not being in a position to have my kids do the corsage/brunch/card bought last minute at CVS thing for me. Fathers Day, OTOH, has always been a source of bitterness for me, and the only reason I had ANY positive association with it is currently sitting on my altar next to Granma.

Somehow, I don't think that's the kind of attitude that would make me bring my A game to work. Better to spend next Sunday home. Except when I take myself out while Kent calls The Patriarch. The urge to run color commentary on the half of the conversation I can hear would be WAAAAY too strong.

He *still* hasn't called Kent to see how the new job is going. And I know his GF is still stalking my Facebook, so she hasn't been able to report back any behavior he would consider disappointing. Hence the radio silence.

I am sooooo tempted to make an outrageous post that is just plausible enough and see how fast we get a phone call, though. ;)

Kent's doing better. Apparently, there's really no support system in place for him, because he's "just" kitchen staff and not nursing (no, he's just the nutrition director. He could just hide in the kitchen. I have a feeling he may be putting himself out more into the population because...he's Kent. He told me yesterday he's going to be doing extra hours when families do tours so he can give them an idea of how the food is served and to find out what accomodations need to be made for their loved ones and...yeah, he's diving into the pool head first and doesn't realize how deep or shallow it might be). Amelia (his former SiL. Why aren't there better terms for ex-relatives that are still considered family? Grrrr...) and I talked, and she's going to look into resources. She's a nurse, but is very passionate about mental health care for EVERYONE who works with the ill and the dying. *keeping fingers crossed* She's also making a list for me of support groups for partners of people in the palliative care/hospice field, because she recognized that I might need a bit of help, too.

At least he slept like a baby last night. I did the hard mid (technically 12-5. I finally was told to close my drawer at 5:15 with no sign of my replacement and DAMN! What qualifies as "late" these days? I apologize like I drowned someone's goldfish when I show up at 10:55 for an 11 shift) and walked out with yet another meal and dessert. Half a Big Nasty (the most unfortunately named sandwich is the history of ever, but it is GOOD), some potato salad, and a couple of bites of cheesecake and he was OUT.

That makes two (TWO!) days in a row that members of the UNC Men's Basketball Team came in and more or less bought me food. Oh, I have to sell six of this and I get a free meal (which is enough for me and Kent)? Game on!

If I have learned anything in my time in Chapel Hill, it is that if you upsell to one of these guys, they will ALL buy one. They're kind of like overgrown kindegarteners that way. "Wait. He got a cookie? I want a cookie!"

Okay, and here's your ticket. If you go online and fill out the survey, you get a free cookie on your next visit.

"No way!"

Yup. Just go online and get the code. Oh, and I'm Alicia, by the way. And you are?

BigBoss is threatening to just chain me to a register for the entire summer. If I can keep having weekends off, I wouldn't complain.

[It's also ROYALLY pissing The Bully off that the guys come in and line up behind my register. "Oh, I can take someone over here!" Sorry, but Coach Roy knows where I am working now, and knows I will take care of his guys. And not hit on them. These guys are the same age as my boys, so I find them kind of endearingly dorky and awkward. And I'm not afraid to "mom" them on occasion]

AND...and, and, and! Lewis Black came in for the third time when I was working, and said "Okay, you've gotten me over my fear of commitment. I can't argue with math. I'm buying the tumbler."

The Tumbler is an eco-friendly albatross around our collective neck at work. Apparently, Uber Big Boss thought they would sell like hotcakes, so we have CASES of these things in our attic. And at $8.99, they just don't move. Basically, if you sell one, you are That Person for your shift (or until someone else sells one, then they get to be That Person) I've been halfheartedly trying to push the fact that they're roughly the cost of 4 drinks, and you get 99 cent refills pretty much forever after that (or, as I put it, "if I'm still working here, you'll get the 99 cent refill"), but I kind of hate pushing something that expensive that whoever buys it will probably forget to bring half the time they come back.

(But I will still charge the refill price if you forgot and I like you. Yes, I'm a pushover that way)

So, I sold the tumbler, complimented him on his tshirt (Bob Dylan), chatted for a bit about music....and then went in back and did the most spazzy Snoopy dance/Kermit flail mashup that humankind has ever seen. Thankfully, Big Boss was the only one there to witness it.

[ETA: I started this yesterday, then got roped into going grocery shopping with Santa Pete, which is a whole other story]

So, a day off. And it's 90F+ outside, and what does our intrepid writer decide to do?

Go shopping to celebrate! Laugh all you want, but those Walgreen's rewards are the Best. Things. Ever. Free things!

(Okay, we also needed beer. And our Walgreens has the distiction of having both the cheapest beer and toilet paper around. Ah, life in a college town)

So I'm buying my nifty new 12 pack of Sharpies for coloring, and I hear "I wondered where you were today. I'm surprised they let you have days off."

Lewis Black. Again. Damn, y'all.

Anyway, I got my Sharpies and beer, checked out, and realized I hadn't gone looking for a pen/pencil case. A friend had mentioned that her Walgreens had a Wonder Woman makeup brush set that came with a case that would be the perfect size, so I went looking. No luck. My favorite turquoise haired cashier called around and I got a Wonder Woman clutch WITH A CAPE!

Did I mention that, after using the last of my points, I paid 74 cents? AND GOT A CAPE!?!?!?